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No Good Deed
"No Good Deed" is the 22nd episode of season 1, and the 22nd produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on May 10, 2012. Synopsis The newest POI's curiosity could spell his doom when he finds himself embroiled in a dark government conspiracy - one that Finch is all too familiar with. Meanwhile, Reese uncovers something revealing about Finch's past. Episode Notes *The episode title is drawn from the expression "No good deed goes unpunished." It refers to the unanticipated costs of the good acts we do. *The manner in which Finch gets Peck's number differs from how the Machine relays later numbers. In this episode, Finch gets a notice from his cell phone presumably directing him to a nearby, seemingly pre-prepared pay phone from which to take the number without it ever ringing, whereas in all subsequent instances the Machine calls the pay phone nearest to Finch directly without any notice beforehand. *Henry Peck is both a relevant and an irrelevant number. Relevant because he came too close to discovering the Machine so a team of ISA hitmen was sent to silence him, which possibly triggered the Machine to send his number to Finch as well. *The term sibilance is used to describe a phoneme, such as an /s/ or /sh/, sounded with a hissing sound. This lends intensity to its sound, and can be used to draw attention, such as in the commonly used "shhhh!", conveying a desire for another to be quiet. According to Peck, Sibilance is an internal audit of the NSA intranet. * The Shannon Limit is a concept in information theory which states the maximum rate at which data can be transmitted without error. *Total Information Awareness (TIA) was a program founded by the Department of Defense in 2002 during the George W. Bush administration. TIA was a massive data mining progam that can "detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists" by analyzing commercial transactions and private communication, which means creating a "risk profile" using any conceivable record imaginable such as financial, educational, travel and medical records, as well as criminal and other governmental records which is subjected to said analysis. It was eventually disbanded due to privacy issues. * A Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) is a room proofed against many forms of eavesdropping or leakage of classified information. One main precaution often mentioned in the show is for hardening against radio communication, which in this case Finch defeats using a bugged coffee maker. A typical SCIF has privacy film and laser eavesdropping counter measures on the windows, walls fitted with soundproof steel plates and white-noise makers embedded in the ceiling. SCIFs are routinely swept for electronic devices several times a day. Additionally, these facilities are restocked from a central government warehouse clearing center, not the neighborhood Office Depot/Staples. *Several dialoges in the episode mention people or events prominent in the second season: **Reese recognizes the hitmen who were chasing Peck as members of the ISA. **One of the people who know about the Machine is working for the Office of Special Counsel. **Alicia Corwin mentioning the "facility" that houses the Machine , located "where no one would go looking". **Finch's reply ("I have a contingency.") to Reese's concern what he would do in case something ever happened to him. **Grace referring to "an accident" that supposedly killed her fiancé. *The episode also sheds some light on several mysteries that had not been tackled before: **How Finch receives numbers **Once a the Machine identifies a relevant threat, it slips names into NSA reports without leaving any indication to where the information originated **Finch's past relationship with Grace Hendricks **The contingency function which allows Finch to receive numbers **It is revealed that officially seven people know about the Machine Production Notes Bloopers and Continuity Errors *The pile of "The Boroughs" magazines in the Library turns 180 degrees when Reese flicks through it in a close up and the camera cuts to the next scene. *The note with the lot number of Finch's tea cup manufacturer on the shipping invoice Reese used to track down the coffee stand is slightly different from the note Reese wrote in the Library. *The color of Carrie's shirt changes after she goes back inside the office with Peck. *In the original timeline, Finch leaves right after he says "Because I built it." In the flashback at the end of the episode, Finch remains seated. *When talking to Peck in the original timeline, Finch says, "Go and live your life, find some secrets of your own, and if you really need a mystery, I recommend the human heart." He omits "and" in the flashback at the end of the episode. For the following sentence, he also leans forwards briefly as he says, "Because I built it", but in the flashback he can be seen leaning forwards after speaking. Music *"I'm Afraid of Americans" by David Bowie. During the taxi ambush/End of episode. The song is a reference to the video clip of the original song, which involves New York City taxi, the taxi being shot at, as well as paranoia and not being able to trust anyone. The reference to John is coincidental ("Johnny's in America"). Trivia *Peck is the first civilian who learns about the Machine's existence from Finch. *Henry Peck's box changes from white to yellow after Finch confirms the presence of the Machine and gives him the passport with his new identity. *In the interrogation room when Peck talks about the Machine, a disbelieving Fusco asks him if he wanted "a soda or something". When Reese comes to pick up Henry Peck from the interrogation room he can be seen holding a soda can. *Carrie Preston (Grace) is Michael Emerson's (Finch) wife. *Reese is seen perusing Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1866 novel "Crime and Punishment", which focuses on the moral dilemmas of a poor ex-student who kills a pawnbroker for cash and comes to believe that with the money he can do good deeds to remedy the crime he committed. *Any person who managed gain access to a SCIF or covert NSA office would have been highly documented and investigated. *Finch refers to "babies and mafia dons", the persons of interest from and , respectively. *Finch's sarky comment "I suppose we can count our blessings Detective Fusco isn't the inquisitive type." after Fusco just shrugs off Peck's concerns about a massive government surveillance program is an indirect wink at a dialog in where Simmons remarks that Fusco is asking too many questions [[HR]'s activities], and Fusco replies: "I got an inquisitive mind." Quotes *"I've never regretted building the machine. I didn't fully realize the personal cost. I'm good with computers. But people... well, people other than Grace, have always been a mystery to me." (Finch) *"If knowing about the machine is like a virus, that makes me patient zero." (Finch) *"I was lucky. I had four years of happiness. Some people only get four days." (Finch) *"If something ever happens, I have a ...contingency." (Finch) es:No Good Deed it:Niente buone azioni 122 122 Category:Season 1 Episodes